Update: McCain Forced To Confront Lobbyist Issue

Last week, in response to criticism about his habit of employing current and former lobbyists for his Republican presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain and his staff set down a new rule: No one currently working as a lobbyist can also work as a paid campaign staffer.

There was a casualty reported yesterday, and on Page One of today's Washington Post. Tom Loeffler, a former Texas GOP congressman who had been on McCain's staff as a fundraiser, resigned over his status as a lobbyist.

Here's some of what The Washington Post had:

Tom Loeffler, the national finance co-chairman for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, resigned yesterday because of his lobbying ties, a campaign adviser said.

He is the fifth person to sever ties with the campaign amid a growing concern over whether lobbyists have too great an influence over the Republican nominee. Last week, campaign manager Rick Davis issued a new policy that requires all campaign personnel to either resign or sever ties with lobbying firms or outside political groups.

The story also clarifies the question over Charlie Black, a longtime lobbyist who (see my previous post on this subject) was with a firm that has done PR for a who's who of nasty foreign dictators going all the way back to Filipino "strongman" Ferdinand Marcos:

McCain has built his reputation in Congress on fighting special interests and the lobbying culture, but he has been criticized for months about the number of lobbyists serving in key positions in his campaign. Until recently, his top political adviser, Charles R. Black Jr., was the head of a Washington lobbying firm. Black retired in March from BKSH & Associates, the firm he helped found, to stay with the campaign. Davis ran a lobbying firm for several years but has said he is on leave from it.

Black, in particular, remains in the cross hairs of McCain's critics. Campaign Money Watch, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington, yesterday praised Loeffler's departure but renewed its call for Black's departure. The group has launched a Web site, http://www.firethelobbyists.com, to urge McCain to rid his campaign of their influence. Loeffler's lobbying for Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments was revealed over the weekend.

McCain has steadfastly defended Black and Davis. "Charlie Black and Rick Davis are not in the lobbying business; they've been out of that business," he told reporters. "Charlie Black has been involved in every presidential campaign going back to President Reagan's first campaign. He has severed his connections with the lobbying group that he was with. Rick Davis has not been involved in any lobbying for years."

So, since Charlie Black finally retired from lobbying for international pond scum like Mobutu Sese Seko, it's more than proper for him to stay on as a McCain campaign staffer? And what about his involvement in all these presidential campaigns going back to Reagan's first? (1968, 1976, or 1980? Reagan won the GOP nomination on his third try.) And what does this suggest about the ethics and values of the modern Republican Party?

Back to Loeffler, there's the Saudi connection. (That government isn't exactly one to win over a little-d democrat's heart, is it?) More from WaPo:

Loeffler, a former congressman from Texas, is a close friend of McCain's and took over the campaign's fundraising last summer. He did not respond to e-mails or a message left on his office voice mail yesterday.

Newsweek reported that his firm, the Loeffler Group, had collected $15 million from Saudi Arabia and millions more from other foreign governments. He is listed as chairman and senior partner at the firm.

There is also the matter of past conflicts of interest involving Loeffler and the Arizona senator. ThinkProgress cited the Newsweek article:

[Loeffler’s] lobbying firm has collected nearly $15 million from Saudi Arabia since 2002 and millions more from other foreign and corporate interests, including a French aerospace firm seeking Pentagon contracts. Loeffler last month told a reporter “at no time have I discussed my clients with John McCain.” But lobbying disclosure records reviewed by NEWSWEEK show that on May 17, 2006, Loeffler listed meeting McCain along with the Saudi ambassador to “discuss US-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia relations.”

What all this indicates is that McCain, for all his grandstanding, is fundamentally no different from others in the modern Machiavellian Republican Party dating back to even Richard Nixon, in terms of ethics and values. If he wins the White House, expect more of what we've been seeing for decades.

Amusing postscript: The late, great Molly Ivins had an anecdote about Tom Loeffler. Molly wrote that Loeffler "wore shower caps on his feet while showering during a visit to San Francisco back in the '80s lest he get AIDS through his feet."

Crossposted at Manifesto Joe.

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Who Exactly Thought Monica Goodling Was A Good Idea?

The gripe that has been bugging me for over 24 hours now is how in the hell did Monica Goodling get her job? Have you seen her background? McClatchy Newspapers reports:

"Goodling, 33, is a 1995 graduate Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., an institution that describes itself as "committed to embracing an evangelical spirit." She received her law degree at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. Regent, founded by Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, says its mission is "to produce Christian leaders who will make a difference, who will change the world."

She did not even graduate law school until mid to late 1999; what qualifications does she have? Is she a member of a state bar anywhere? If so, I can find no evidence of it. Does she have ANY prosecutorial experience; again, if so I can find no record. From what I have seen, this girl does not have the bonafides to be hired as a line level municipal prosecutor of petty offenses and small misdemeanors. How did she become Senior Counselor to the Attorney General of the United States and Liason to the White House/Executive Office? This is truly amazing. Heckuva Job Brownie was fucking overqualified compared to Ms. Goodling. How did this wet behind the ears theocrat get planted in a senior DOJ position? How many other Monica Goodlings have been wrongfully planted in critical positions? The Bushies have long loathed the separating wall between church and state; is this how they are breaking it down?

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The Blunt Administration has Ethics Problems, Too

With all the outrages going on at the national level, I have been woefully remiss in taking my juvenile delinquent governor and Republican-controlled state house to task.

Ethics violations and obstruction of justice isn’t just a D.C. phenomenon, you know. The state of Missouri, with Matt-son-of-Blunt acting as governor - I won’t say he’s in the mansion as his not-from-Missouri wife turned her nose up at the Governor’s Mansion, so the Boy Blunder commutes from Springfield to Jeff City in a six-suburban convoy five days a week.

Because Melanie “doesn’t like the mansion.”

I’m sure, given the questions about just how young Matty manages the monthly nut on the Springfield digs on his state salary, you damn sure know that he isn’t footing the bill for the petrol for those six Suburbans out of his pocket, he’s gassing ‘em up a couple of times a day out of mine.

A hundred and forty miles. Each way. Six Suburbans. That’s a lot of cash and a lot of carbon. If I did the stoichiometry for the carbon emissions, I would set my hair alight. At least those emissions would be from the biological carbon cycle...

[Update: I did the math]

But that isn’t even what I’m here to complain about today. I just can’t mention Matt career-fading-fast Blunt without bringing that up…

Like I said at the top, Washington has no monopoly on ethics violations. Hell, the Matt Blunt administration is one giant ethics violation.

Yesterday, young Master Blunt’s Chief of Staff, Ed Martin, fired off a letter in which he viciously attacked Missouri’s Democratic Attorney General and next Governor, Jay Nixon.

But there are a couple of problems with Martin’s screed.

First, he cited an investigation in which Nixon was exonerated of any wrongdoing, and a report that was issued in September.

The following cases were dismissed against these Respondents as the allegations were unsubstantiated:

06C147 Mike Sanders, Jackson Co
06E112 Nixon for Governor Committee
06E112A Jeremiah Nixon, Cole Co
06E112G Ameren UE Pac
06E118 Ameren UE
06C172 Sandra Reeves, Clay Co

But of course, Martin didn’t point that bit up, just that some sorehead filed a grievance and wasted the commissions time and the states money. Except he wasn’t honest in his phraseology like I just was.

But his screed highlighted another problem. He knew details of the Ethics Commission meeting that are supposed to be confidential.

From the Ethics Commission website:

Complaint Process

The Missouri Ethics Commission is given the statutory authority to investigate complaints made against elected and appointed officials. The complaint process and all investigations by the commission are confidential. All complaints filed must be in writing, must be filed by a natural person, and the person's signature must be notarized. The commission has jurisdiction to review complaints alleging violations of: the requirements imposed on lobbyists; the financial interest disclosure requirements; the campaign finance disclosure requirements; any code of conduct promulgated by any department, division, or agency of state government, or by state institutions of higher education; the conflict of interest laws; and the provisions of the constitution or state statute or order, ordinance or resolution of any political subdivision.

And the Missouri Revised Statutes:

Missouri Revised Statutes

Chapter 105
Public Officers and Employees--Miscellaneous Provisions
Section 105.955

August 28, 2006

Ethics commission established--appointment--qualifications --terms--vacancies--removal--restrictions--compensation --administrative secretary--filings required--investigators --powers and duties of commission--advisory opinions, effect--audits.

105.955. 1. A bipartisan "Missouri Ethics Commission", composed of six members, is hereby established. The commission shall be assigned to the office of administration with supervision by the office of administration only for budgeting and reporting as provided by subdivisions (4) and (5) of subsection 6 of section 1 of the Reorganization Act of 1974. Supervision by the office of administration shall not extend to matters relating to policies, regulative functions or appeals from decisions of the commission, and the commissioner of administration, any employee of the office of administration, or the governor, either directly or indirectly, shall not participate or interfere with the activities of the commission in any manner not specifically provided by law and shall not in any manner interfere with the budget request of or withhold any moneys appropriated to the commission by the general assembly. All members of the commission shall be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate from lists submitted pursuant to this section. Each congressional district committee of the political parties having the two highest number of votes cast for their candidate for governor at the last gubernatorial election shall submit two names of eligible nominees for membership on the commission to the governor, and the governor shall select six members from such nominees to serve on the commission.

Mr. Martin needs to answer some questions about this.

And he needs to swear an oath first.

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The Missouri Delegation: How They Voted

Last week the House of Representatives voted 356-71 to reduce interest on Student Loans through the Stafford Loan program for undergraduates. the action will lower interest rates on Stafford Loans incrementally over four years, dropping the rate from the current 6.8% to 3.4% by 2011. (A "Yea" was to pass the bill). The GOP attempted to attach a means test to the interest relief, but the measure was voted down 186-241. (A "Yea" vote was to add means testing).

The House also voted 264-163 to repeal tax breaks (to oil companies) that were written to drive the extraction of fossil fuels and use the savings to develop renewable fuels and increase energy efficiencies. (A "Yea" vote was to pass the bill).

On the other side of the building, the Senate voted 96-2 to pass a sweeping lobbying reform and ethics package that is intended to rein in lobbyists and prevent them from providing perks, gifts and meals above minimal levels to Senators and their staff members. The legislation also mandates full disclosure of tax and spending earmarks before votes are taken. The ethics package also requires Ethics Committee pre-clearance of privately financed travel. Senators traveling by private (corporate) jets now must pay the substantially higher charter rates for the trip. (In the past, they merely paid the equivalent of a first-class ticket). The legislation limits the professional contacts that lobbyist spouses of lawmakers can pursue. The new legislation doubles the length of time that must elapse before a former Senator can register as a lobbyist. The Ethics package also does away with the practice of anonymous holds being placed on legislation. (A "Yea" vote was to send the bill to conference).

The Senate also voted 89-5 to outlaw the practice of lobbyists and lobbying organizations throwing lavish parties for members of Congress at the political nominating conventions. (A "Yea" was to add the ban).

The Senate voted 27-71 to reject and amendment to the Ethics package that would have established a non-partisan Office of Public Integrity to investigate complaints of misconduct by Senators and Senate staffers. (A "Yea" vote backed the amendment).

In a closer vote, the Senate voted 55-43 to strip the Ethics bill of a provision that would have initiated federal regulation of so-called "Astroturf" lobbying. The term refers to well-financed influence campaigns that misrepresent themselves as grass-roots efforts. (A 'Yea" vote opposed the regulation).

As you can see from the handy charts below, the Missouri delegation pretty much split across along party lines, with the exception of Roy Blunt, who can always be counted on to embrace partisan hack-dom, no matter what.

This Weeks's House Votes

Representative	Student Loan Interest Rates	GOP Income test (HR 5)	Oil Company taxation ((HR 6)
Clay (D)	Yea	No	Yea
Akin (R)	Yea	Yea	No
Carnahan (D)	Yea	No	Yea
Skelton (D)	Yea	No	Yea
Cleaver (D)	Yea	No	Yea
Graves (R)	Yea	Yea	No
Blunt (R)	No	Yea	No
Emerson (R)	Yea	Yea	Yea
Hulshof (R)	Yea	Yea	No

This Weeks Senate Votes

Senator	Ethics Reform Legislation	Convention Lobbying	Office of Public Integrity	“Astroturf” Lobbying
Bond (R)	Yea	No Vote	No	Yea
McCaskill (D)	Yea	Yea	Yea	No

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Clocking in from Chicago

Hey, y'all.

Like Keith, I'm humbled to be in the company of folks whose posts have so informed, moved and entertained me on other blogs.

I'll be helping to keep an eye on the Illinois delegation, including engaging in regular mockery of Denny Hastert's facial demonstrations of poor sportsmanship. Of course, I wouldn't presume to claim Majority Whip (mmmm, it's fun to say that) Durbin and Rock Star Obama as my personal territory.

Blue Girl also has asked me to keep my antennae on the House and Senate ethics committees, the official names of which I might learn and use.

Now I'll show what a big slacker I am by leaving town for a couple of weeks. Anyone in Chicago reading this: please move my car if they have a street cleaning day. See you soon!

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